The Primal Hunter

Jake looked at the upgraded skill with a bit of bewilderment.

[Expert Archery (Uncommon)] An Archer’s best friend is the bow in his hand and the arrow in his foe’s heart. You have proven yourself an expert with your chosen weapon and is fast approaching the level of mastering your craft. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Agility and Strength when using a ranged weapon.

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[Archery of Vast Horizons (Rare)] - An Archer’s best friend is the bow in his hand and the arrow in his foe’s heart. Unsatisfied with merely becoming an expert, you have sought beyond mastering common bowmanship, and do not shy away from using magic to enhance your technique. You seek to cross all horizons with your arrows, and your target shall be pierced, no matter the distance, no matter the means. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Agility and Strength when using a ranged weapon. Adds a small damage bonus to all arrows based on distance traveled and Perception.

He was bewildered… was all it took really just to shoot a long distance to get a skill with a weird name? It didn’t just upgrade from ‘expert’ to ‘master’ or something like that. Instead, it changed direction.

Not that he was complaining. The skill was objectively better in every way as it added a damage bonus based on distance and perception. It also said damage bonus and not that it increased the effectiveness of his stats, which meant it likely worked like his Mark of the Ambitious Hunter.

Was it because he had reached some level of understanding of how the Mark did its damage? Was it because he had killed a D-grade while only in E-grade himself with his long-range archery? Was it because he used a plethora of different skills besides usual archery?

It even mentioned using magic to enhance his archery… did he really do that? Infused Powershot was technically magic… so was Blood of the Malefic Viper if you thought a bit about it. The arrows generated from Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter to be used against the Storm Elemental also clearly carried elements of his mana control, and he doubted it would be as strong as it was if he hadn’t practiced mana manipulations and making those mana bolts as much as he had.

The usage of the word ‘vast’ was also weird. Why not distant horizons? Sure, one could argue that vast included distance, but it also included breadth. Was it talking about how diverse his archery was?

He had to admit it wasn’t just regular archery anymore… even from a post-system perspective. He actively integrated Gaze of the Apex Hunter to strike harder, used arrows highly reliant on his abilities as a mana-user and everything from his profession.

Jake stood in thought as he considered the skill. Ultimately it was just a straight-up upgrade, so it was good, and now his perception would prove even more useful. Especially the first strike with Infused Powershot would be stronger… because he really needed it to be.

Closing his system menus in satisfaction, he felt like he was forgetting something. Turning his gaze towards the cloud continent, he saw that the birds were all gathering towards where he killed the Storm Elemental, almost as if they were searching for som-

“SHIT! THE ORB!” Jake yelled out loud as he took flight towards the island. Damn you, fortunate skill upgrade, for distracting me!

He was flying desperately forward as he tried to keep an eye on what was happening in the distance. He saw the birds chase a Lightning Roc that had stolen it, but soon a group of Flare Crows attacked it and managed to burn it before one of the large vultures dove in, smashing its talons into the Lightning Roc.

Jake just kept flapping his wings as he tried to get closer. He tried to use Gaze of the Apex Hunter once in a while to try and stop the bird that he assumed had the Orb as he got closer at a pace far slower than he would have liked.

Miranda sat in the newly constructed longhouse with Hank, Neil with his party, and a few of Abby’s former goons.

The last few days had been very fruitful for the city with the influx of 50 or so new citizens. Granted, it was a bit skewed on the gender-ratio with only five women in total: herself, Eleanor, Christen, Louise, and the scarred woman.

was one of the people inside the

believe it’s safe to

to run that night to try and enter the fort, but they were all killed,” the woman explained. “We quite frankly don’t know anything about them… but they were struggling a bit from the looks

nodded as she took in

group of survivors who had spent nearly a month wandering to chase Neil and his friends had proven quite valuable. They had seen many sights on their travels and

which was of a few larger human settlements. Around 20 kilometers outside the forest, a total of 130 or so kilometers, a large settlement was called ‘the fort.’ The reason for that was simple, as it was an old

to group up in one place also presented challenges. Ignoring all the usual difficulties of running a functional settlement, they also had

did raise the issue of why no beast ever dared enter the

the

come to the forest with them. But there were many risks and unknown

60 people. And while Neil and

more specialized

abundance of wood in the forest, with Hank taking the lead in the project. The man was growing in levels quite fast and seemed to enjoy himself. Louise helped him and had even managed to evolve her profession to some kind of architect.

Miranda was more than happy for them to do that. And the first thing they had made – after the owner’s lodge – was a sign

entirely off-limits for anyone but the owner himself and Miranda when she needed to contact him. Miranda still remembered that he disliked people staring at him while he worked, and she had a strong feeling that he would like his privacy. It

Civilization’s domain. They only built to the south side,

this the most effective when the Pylon expanded the area in a circular area? No, not at all, but it wasn’t like they needed space. With less than 60 people total, they had only managed to create two wooden structures in the new ‘city’ so

longhouses were large enough to house dozens, and they wanted one for men and one for women. Again, the longhouse for women wasn’t really a

had to admit that she liked the vibe of the area they were building. They had purposefully left most trees standing, making everything

help a lot of the members of those who had been forced into helping Abby. After her death, her leadership profession’s effect faded, and a lot of the

they would have to deal with that

party had already gone through all of them with Silas’s truth-detection spell to ask some rudimentary questions. Mainly about things they had done and wrongs

had also asked about their thoughts towards the owner… but the response there was

a second to think badly of him. The reason was that

power that allowed her to crush anything. Consciously or unconsciously, they had already put her on a

to look like a weak little girl. Instead of bringing her down from her pedestal to their level, in their minds, they had just seen an even larger pinnacle crushing her. All of

they worked with almost fanatical intent to help Hank build, and they seemed almost fearful in front of Miranda… the only different one was the scarred woman. Maybe because she had broken out of the spell long ago, she only felt grateful towards

us, we make contact with the fort?” Miranda asked, summing up their circular discussion, always coming back to ‘well if the owner

came to building things, and Neil and his comrades were also working hard on their respective professions these days. They all appeared

to go out hunting. Something they didn’t